Ex€cution in Oslo: The F@ll of a N@zi Psych0 Gest@po Enforcer — Fehmer’s Final Day
In April 1940, German aircraft roared over Oslo as soldiers moved swiftly through the Norwegian capital. Streets, government offices, and ministries were occupied with practiced precision. Within hours, the city fell unnervingly quiet. Civil servants remained at their desks under new authority, shopkeepers lowered their shutters, and citizens watched from behind drawn curtains, uncertain of what the coming hours would bring. Beneath this outward calm, fear spread rapidly. Rumors circulated of arrests already underway, of lists being prepared, of interrogations that would soon take place behind closed doors. Silence quickly became a form of self-preservation.
Behind the visible presence of the German armed forces stood a second, more insidious power. It did not parade through public squares or announce itself with banners. Instead, it infiltrated police buildings, private apartments, basements, and interrogation rooms. Before Norwegian resistance could fully organize, it was already being mapped, penetrated, and prepared for destruction. This marked the beginning of a hidden war against the Norwegian population, fought through intimidation, torture, and total control. At the center of this machinery of repression stood a man who would soon be feared by prisoners and trusted by his Nazi superiors: Siegfried Fehmer.
Siegfried Wolfgang Fehmer was born on January 10, 1911, in Munich, then part of the German Empire. His parents belonged to the Baltic German community and held Russian citizenship. During the First World War, the family lived in Moscow, where his father worked as a civil engineer. The collapse of the tsarist order and the violence of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 left a deep impression on Fehmer’s childhood. He experienced hunger, chaos, and constant fear, often hiding from street fighting. These formative years fostered a lasting hostility toward communism and revolutionary disorder and shaped his later loyalty to authoritarian power and the far right.
In October 1918, as war and revolution convulsed Eastern and Central Europe, the family relocated to Berlin and adopted German citizenship. Fehmer grew up during the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, a period defined by political extremism, economic instability, and fragile democratic institutions. Order and authority were weak, and many Germans longed for stability and strength. Fehmer proved disciplined and ambitious. He studied law at a Berlin university, deliberately choosing a profession that offered hierarchy, influence, and access to state power.
On January 1, 1930, while still a student, Fehmer joined the Nazi Party. His early membership, reflected in his relatively low party number of 181,345, demonstrated a strong ideological commitment to a movement that promised national revival, strict control, and an uncompromising struggle against perceived enemies of Germany. He completed his legal studies in 1933, the same year Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor, a coincidence that also marked the beginning of Fehmer’s rapid ascent.
Fehmer passed his legal traineeship examination in December 1933. On April 18, 1934, he married Anni Wille. Shortly thereafter, he began working as an assistant within the Berlin police authorities, gaining practical experience in state security. During this period, he cooperated closely with senior police leaders who were transforming German law enforcement into an instrument of Nazi rule. Law, ideology, and repression increasingly merged, and Fehmer adapted easily, learning how violence could be concealed behind bureaucratic language and legal procedure.
On October 1, 1934, Fehmer formally joined the Gestapo, the Secret State Police tasked with eliminating political opposition and enforcing loyalty to the Nazi regime. His entry was facilitated by personal connections within the secret police, including a recommendation to Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Gestapo and one of the principal architects of Nazi terror. Heydrich was impressed by Fehmer’s exceptional memory for faces and voices. Fehmer soon began working on communist cases, mastering surveillance, informant networks, and interrogation techniques that dismantled underground organizations and spread fear among opponents of the regime.
Fehmer’s legal training allowed him to transform repression into administrative routine. His efficiency and reliability brought rapid promotion. Between 1937 and 1939, he served in Köslin, now Koszalin in northern Poland, as head of counterintelligence. There he refined his skills further, dealing with both real and imagined enemies of the state and strengthening his reputation as a capable and ruthless officer.
When the Second World War began on September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland, Fehmer was already an established figure within the security apparatus. In April 1940, after completing an elite police course that only a small number of candidates passed, he was selected for service in occupied Norway. Nazi Germany invaded Norway on April 9, 1940, under Operation Weserübung, and the Norwegian Army on the mainland capitulated on June 10.
Norway held immense strategic value for Germany. Its long coastline offered access to the North Sea, and control of the country secured iron ore shipments from Sweden, vital to the German war economy. On April 29, 1940, Fehmer arrived in Oslo with other members of the German security services and began his task of suppressing Norwegian resistance in all its forms.
The German security services in Norway quickly assumed responsibility for crushing resistance, which emerged almost immediately after the occupation. Norwegian military groups organized acts of sabotage and gathered intelligence for the Allied powers. Civilians distributed illegal newspapers, maintained contact with the Norwegian government in exile, and assisted Jews fleeing to neutral Sweden. These activities posed a persistent threat to German authority and undermined any attempt to portray the occupation as orderly or accepted. Although a collaborationist government was installed, real power rested firmly with the German occupation authorities and their security apparatus.
As in other occupied countries, the Gestapo in Norway constructed a dense network of informers. Neighbors were encouraged to report suspicious behavior, mail was intercepted, and cafés were monitored. Fear penetrated everyday life. People spoke quietly even in their own homes and learned to trust only a select few. Those arrested were isolated from family and friends, transferred to interrogation centers, and subjected to questioning that could last for days or weeks. Many prisoners vanished into concentration camps or were executed without trial.
Fehmer was assigned to dismantle the Norwegian resistance and soon became one of its most feared adversaries. In Oslo, he carefully cultivated his public image. He appeared confident, polite, and approachable, often walking openly through the city in uniform, accompanied by his dog. He spoke calmly and listened attentively, later also mastering the Norwegian language fluently. This allowed him to communicate directly with prisoners and to blend seamlessly into public life. His demeanor lowered the defenses of many Norwegians, who initially mistook his manners for restraint.
Ida Nikoline Manus, a member of the Norwegian resistance, later described her impression of Fehmer after meeting him in Oslo in the spring of 1941. She recalled a man who was cheerful and helpful, exceptionally handsome, with high cheekbones, light hair, and striking blue eyes. Though clearly a German officer, she remembered thinking that under different circumstances he was someone she could have fallen for. Only later did she learn who he truly was.
During interrogations, Fehmer frequently began with friendly conversation, creating a false sense of security before abruptly shifting to intimidation and violence. In January 1941, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and overseer of the German security apparatus, visited Norway and ordered the introduction of enhanced interrogation methods. These methods involved physical torture and were justified as necessary for German security. Fehmer supported this directive and played a central role in implementing it.
He participated in drafting internal guidelines that purported to regulate the use of violence, stipulating that torture should be applied only when guilt was firmly established and when valuable information was expected. In reality, these regulations were largely ignored. Interrogations were frequently conducted at night, authorization was bypassed, and brutality became routine as pressure mounted to destroy resistance networks.
Fehmer did not merely authorize torture; he personally participated in interrogations. He deliberately alternated between courtesy and cruelty, using beatings, sleep deprivation, and psychological pressure to break prisoners. His methods were designed not only to extract information but also to demonstrate absolute power. The Gestapo sought to convince resistance members that opposition was futile and that survival depended entirely on obedience.
Among Fehmer’s victims were leading figures of the Norwegian resistance. One of the most infamous cases involved Lauritz Sand. When the 62-year-old Sand refused to cooperate, his arms were broken during interrogation. His legs were later shattered as well. He was treated briefly in a hospital before being returned to Gestapo custody for further torture. Sand survived, but his body was permanently damaged. His endurance made him a symbol of resistance, and he became known as the most brutally tortured person in Norway during the war. Fehmer’s role in his suffering came to epitomize the cruelty of the occupation.
As the war progressed, resistance activity intensified rather than diminished. One of the most important organizations was Milorg, the military branch of the Norwegian resistance, which coordinated sabotage operations and armed resistance. Intelligence continued to reach the Allies, German losses increased, and the Gestapo responded with escalating repression. Executions became more frequent, prisons overflowed, and entire resistance cells were eliminated. Within this system, Fehmer’s authority expanded steadily.
On July 4, 1944, Fehmer was seriously wounded during an operation against a Milorg radio transmitter in the Oslo region. He was shot in the head, suffering a fractured skull, and sustained injuries to his upper arm from hand-grenade shrapnel. Despite the severity of his wounds, he returned to duty after approximately two months.
In 1945, as Nazi Germany approached defeat and reorganized its remaining security forces in Norway, Fehmer was appointed head of Department IV of the Gestapo in Oslo. In this role, he was responsible for counterintelligence and interrogations during the final months of occupation. By this stage, the Gestapo no longer aimed to secure cooperation but sought only to delay collapse through fear and terror.
When the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945, the Gestapo system in Norway disintegrated rapidly. Files were destroyed, officers went into hiding, and prisoners were released. Fehmer attempted to evade responsibility by disguising himself as an ordinary soldier. He blended in with German prisoners of war in eastern Norway and planned to escape to Sweden.
Fehmer’s attempt to escape accountability failed. Allied intelligence officers monitoring telephone communications arrested him on May 31, 1945, after he contacted a female acquaintance to inquire about his German Shepherd. British intelligence personnel who examined him afterward noted his tall and athletic build, blond hair, and blue eyes, and described him as possessing a first-class education, above-average intelligence, an excellent memory, strong communication skills, and a polished, almost excessively smooth demeanor.
During his imprisonment, Fehmer sought to present himself as cooperative and indispensable. He wrote detailed reports on Gestapo operations in Norway, hoping that his knowledge, particularly regarding communist networks, would secure favorable treatment. He believed that his cooperation might result in extradition to the United States. This expectation proved unfounded. Instead, Norwegian authorities charged him with numerous counts of torture and abuse.
Survivors appeared before the courts to testify about shattered bones, destroyed health, and the psychological terror inflicted during interrogations. Fehmer’s intelligence and education were acknowledged during proceedings, but these qualities only underscored how deliberately and systematically he had operated within the apparatus of repression. On June 27, 1947, he was sentenced to death.
The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of Norway on February 24, 1948. On March 16 of the same year, Siegfried Fehmer was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress. He was 37 years old.
Fehmer’s execution marked the end of one of the most feared figures of the German occupation in Norway. His career illustrated how legal education, bureaucratic discipline, and personal ambition could be fused into an instrument of terror when placed in the service of a totalitarian regime. To many Norwegians, his death symbolized a measure of justice for years of suffering inflicted in interrogation rooms and prison cells. His legacy remained inseparable from the broader history of occupation, resistance, and the moral reckoning that followed the collapse of Nazi power in Europe.
